MOTHERLODE MONDAY: SCREW IT. LET’S DO IT.

Quit wasting time and start setting your goals now. No need to wait until January.

Before writing this post, I collected notes from last week regarding projects I have in the works for next year. I’ve made it to June 2013. Before the end of this year, I will having my working blueprint for next year.

Today I share my plan with you to jump start your endeavors or simply offer ideas to get you back on track.

Screw It. Let’s Do It. Starting Now.

THE PLAN:

Begin today by writing your goals. Your list should include three columns, family, personal, and professional. Try something new this time regarding your goal setting. Dream bigger than ever. I fell in love with the words of Richard Branson in an interview with Inc. Magazine:

[quote style=”boxed”]”I sometimes think in life you’ve got to dream big by setting yourself seemingly impossible challenges. You then have to catch up with them.” [/quote]

3:00PM – Get kids off the school bus, snack time, settling everyone down. [30 minutes]

3:30PM – Kids start on homework, work on dinner prep [1 hour]

4:30PM – Make last few phone calls, answer more emails, write to-do list for next day. [30 mins]

5:00PM – Cook dinner and pack lunches, sometimes. [1 hour]

6:00PM – Eat dinner and clean kitchen [1 hour]

7:00PM – Bathe kids, read stories, cuddle, put to bed. [1 hour]

8:00PM – Get ready for bed and spend time with husband [ 1-2 hours varies]

10:00PM – A bit of social media, then lights out.

My goal is to at least be in bed, if not asleep. I generally awaken in the middle of the night. I’ll give myself about 15 minutes to fall back asleep. If that doesn’t work, I will get up an work for at least an hour. More than that throws off my schedule for the next day.

Print your schedule out on paper, put it in your smartphone, do whatever you need to do to make it visible and easily accessible. Protect your schedule from time sabotages and procrastination, i.e. Too much time on social media, taking personal calls during business hours, answering emails that can wait.

As a busy mom, I have to make EVERY minute count.

2. Take time to set ambitious goals for the week. When I do this, my mind instantly goes into problem solving mode thinking of ways to get it done. You’d be surprised what you can accomplish in a week. Do it now.

If you don’t have time to write down your goals, when are you going to find the time to accomplish them?

3. Before getting anyone else involved in your venture, think about what you can do alone. You’ve got way more talent than you give yourself credit for. For the things you cannot do, make a list of people who can and would be willing to help you.

4. Be committed. Learn from your mistakes and make them stepping stones that’ll take you to the next level. Realize that setbacks are inevitable so don’t quit. Consider a wheel barrel. It’s heavy and takes much effort to get it started, but once you get going it’s the momentum that helps you continue to move forward with less effort.

5. Be disciplined. I love this quote from Jim Rohn:

[quote style=”boxed”]We must all suffer one of two things: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret.[/quote]

I’d much rather take the pain of discipline which in turn leads to growth, than the pain of regret which leads to disappointment and resentment. No shoulda, woulda, coulda, happening here.

What steps will you take this week to improve your productivity? I’m assigning certain days of the week to complete certain tasks. How about you?

wow that’s one heck of a schedule! I need to get my schedule together! I find that I do things as they come my way, and am usually tired by the end of the day. Social media sucks a lot of my time too, so I need to schedule that as well. I wish you a safe delivery (saw your tweets)!

Now I feel like such a slacker since I don’t have small children O_o … I’m going to have to check out evernote. I’ve been using note from squarespace to write and email myself ideas and other things that pop in my head, but I I’ve slacked on checking emails, so go figure that one out 🙂 Though I am back on the grind with my venture that has been 2 yrs of me sitting on it. Thanks for the encouragement. Great post.

Several/many excellent points – What sticks with me is to write down goals and visualize them, and carve out specific time for social media. Social media can make an hour disappear quickly! What do you use to manage your social media outlets? Take it easy this month and put your feet up. Happy Thanksgiving!

Good Morning Jill!
I use tweetdeck to manage both my business account and the room service atlanta accounts.
Generally I post the old fashioned way on facebook so I can also see others’ post and engage there. You are right an hour can go by so fast. I spend time nurturing existing relationships and reading inspiring material…usually while I’m having breakfast or lunch.

While I admire your go-getum attitude, I think it’s rather sad to keep such a strict schedule, accounting for every minute of every day. While in the shower, you should be living in the moment and enjoying that shower, not worrying about your list. As a mom with a full-time career and a breast cancer survivor of ten years, and currently going through double mastectomy surgery with reconstruction this year because of the BRCA2 gene, as well as dealing with TMJ and headaches, this is nice but smelling the roses is also important. Before you know it the kids are grown, or you may get ill and have to fight for your life, and you wonder what happened. And no matter what you do in life, while you may think you are never going to have regrets, hind sight is 20-20. Will you regret that your schedule was so strict? Never say never. While I agree it’s good to have goals, it’s not good to go overboard. You may not have tomorrow.

Hi Kady D, thanks for sharing this with me. I completely agree with living in the moment. I tend to look at my schedule just as I would if I worked outside of my home. The difference is I have total control of my time and I am ALWAYS available for my family.

It hurts my heart to hear about your health challenges and your courage is inspiring to me. Thanks for your comment and food for thought!

That’s a heck of a schedule lady! But as always, great advice. First tip of yours to follow: control my social media time! Replying to one tweet should not lead to replying/engaging with 20 others i.e. an hour eaten up from the day. Again, great advice and I gotta try some of those schedule apps although I swear nothing beats jotting down that list in my trusty notebook!

Great post and that is a heck of a schedule! You have to be extremely focused and disciplined. How do you manage the days you just don’t feel like it? You’re tired and the bed or couch looks so appealing. You have a situation that takes you off track or it’s not something you want to deal with right now. etc. And how about if/when you feel overwhelmed? Do you get any “me-time”?

[…] My school-aged children are away during much of the day, in the afternoon they return home to hunker down with me for a couple hours to do homework, computer games, or a craft while I finish up for the day. Remember when I posted my daily schedule? Click here. […]

Great post! My hat goes off to all the working moms. I usually keep a “mental” schedule of my daily tasks but I think writing it down on paper will keep me focused and and more productive especially when I’m able to scratch things off my list.